The Evil Within is a survival horror/adventure game developed by Tango Gameworks. It is the first game from the studio, which is spearheaded by Shinji Mikami, the "father of survival horror". The game aims to embody the meaning of survival horror, combining highly-crafted environments, a tense sense of anxiety and an intricate story filled with mysteries. The game was initially revealed (albeit in a very small capacity) as Project Zwei in April 2012. The game's art direction and production is being handled by Naoki Katakai, who did a lot of work on Resident Evil Remake's backgrounds as well as Vanquish.

Mikami has said regarding the project: "I've found my focus and once again I'm striving for pure survival horror. I am being very hands-on to see that the quality is there. Rest assured." He and his team have stated that they want the game to be difficult, as an easy game is simply not tense nor scary.

The game follows special detective Sebastian Castellanos. Along with his partners, Joseph Oda and Julie Kidman, he is dispatched to Beacon Mental Hospital. Described as a hospital for the mentally ill and depraved, the hospital is alleged throughout the community to have a very dark history attached to it. Arriving at the hospital, it's apparent that a gruesome mass murder has taken place, and that the first police officers on the scene have gone missing. After witnessing the slaughtering of the last remaining police officers on the scene by a mysterious hooded figure, Sebastian himself is knocked unconscious.

He later wakes up, finding himself trapped within the bowels of the hospital where dangerous creatures dwell and with both Joseph and Julie missing. Facing unimaginable terror, Sebastian must embark on a journey through mysterious locales to unravel what is behind this mysterious and evil force, as well as fight to survive and fend for himself.

There is a also a New Game+ mode. Weapons and your character skills / improvements will carry over to repeat playthroughs of the difficulty cleared or a lower difficulty. You CANNOT carry over weapons and skills to a higher difficulty that you haven't cleared yet​

In the interest of keeping as much of The Evil Within a mystery, details on all characters will be provided very vaguely.
This is just a small selection of the characters, both good and bad, you'll encounter on your journey

• Sebastian Castellanos | A 35 year old detective who has previously lost his family in an undisclosed accident, and has since developed a drinking habit. His obsession with finding the truth has gotten him into trouble in the past. Anson Mount voices Sebastian.
• Julie "Kid" Kidman | A 27 year old detective who recently transferred to the city. She has an upstart attitude and sometimes clashes with Sebastian. Jennifer Carpenter voices Julie.
• Joseph Oda | A half-Japanese, half-American 33 year old detective who partners with Sebastian and Julie on their call-out to Beacon Mental Hospital. He has a long working history with Sebastian and a generally calmer temperament.
• Dr. Jimenez | A strange doctor who practices at Beacon Mental Hospital. He has an intimate familiarity with some of it's patients, but co-operates with Sebastian from time to time.

• Ruvick | A mysterious hooded figure who appears to be responsible for the strange occurrences throughout the hospital. Ruvick's body is covered in scars and burns, with his scalp partially removed. Jackie Early Haley voices Ruvick.
• The Keeper | An ominous figure who roams the halls of Beacon. The Keeper is unusually tall, wields an large meat tenderiser and has a heavy vault for a head.
• Laura | A girl covered in festering burns with long black hair. She has extra arms and especially long legs with very long nails, allowing her to walk where she shouldn't.
• Sadist | A giant butcher of sorts who wields a chainsaw that echos down the corridors of the hospital. He hangs his victims, either dead or alive, upside down, treating them like meat. He wears strange head gear.

The Evil Within builds upon the movement system first employed by Resident Evil 4 and enhances it. Players can now move without tank controls, allowing the camera to move freely around Sebastian. Sebastian can crouch to sneak around the locales as well as hide under beds, in lockers or behind curtains and partitions. There will be a lot of places to hide in The Evil Within, and survival will even require it. Sneaking around also allows Sebastian to take down enemies gruesomely, saving ammo. Should enemies be alerted, they will begin to search for Sebastian - wandering the area, looking under things and even exploring different rooms. Objects can be picked up and thrown to create distractions too. Objects found throughout the environment remain static, but objects and supplies found in crates and boxes are randomised. Similarly, while exploring, some ambient effects or scares are randomised to make every run of the game slightly different. There are lots of destructible and movable objects throughout the levels.

The game will feature some exploration but will largely be a linear affair. While most chapters will take players and advance them to new locations, there will be some backtracking involved. Exploration of the environment will yield several items which can be picked up and examined in real time, similar to Shenmue, to discern clues about the environment and puzzles. Collectibles will be in the game, and include but are not limited to newspaper clippings, missing person reports, map fragments, bulletin board posts and memos, audio tapes and patient notes. Puzzles scale and change depending on which difficulty you are playing.

As with most horror games, there will be a save area. Designed to be a "mystery" ward of the hospital, it can be reached by finding glowing reflections of Sebastian (ie. mirrors) which will transport him to the location. Acting as a save hub of sorts, it's staffed by Tatiana, a nurse who greets Sebastian with dry and emotionless comments depending on how you enter (ie. low or full health, lots of green gel, how frequently you visit etc.) Within this wing of the hospital there's also a morgue, full of locked body lockers, which can be unlocked using keys scattered throughout the main campaign. Finally, green gel can be used in tandem with an electric chair device to upgrade Sebastian's abilities. Whenever the player is near the wing, Clair De Lune will fade in and out depending on the player's proximity to them.

There are two aiming modes - one where the player aims down and takes careful aim, with a slow shuffle possible while aiming. The other is a "free-move" mode where Sebastian pulls out his gun and can freely move but accuracy is affected as a result, making it more accustomed for panicked situations where quick reactions are needed. The guns in the game have been designed so that there are very small intervals between each shot, which heightens tension. Mikami describes this "feeling" as being similar to older Resident Evil games, and made this design choice to make sure every shot counts and to heighten tension.

As the combat is designed around the assumption that resources and ammunition are scarce, there is a melee system in place that is similar to Resident Evil 6 and Dead Space. A dedicated button allows Sebastian to hit enemies with blunt objects, such as axes or sickles or even sharp objects such as knives (of which all melee weapons have set durabilities). Sebastian is able to pick up and use any discarded melee weapons that an enemy may drop. Players looking to be more conservative can also carry matches around with them, which allows Sebastian to light enemies on fire to deal damage rather than use valuable bullets. The game features a weapons wheel that allows weapons to be swappable on the fly. When the weapon wheel is open, time will slow down the action but it won't stop it. Similarly, use of certain healing items will disorient Sebastian, so healing items won't just be a quick and cheap way to recover health without any consequence in the midst of an intense battle.



The most common enemy type in The Evil Within are called "The Haunted". They are mutated in some way, and are commonly wrapped in barbed wire or glass. They serve similar roles in the game to the Ganado, Majini or J'avo from previous Resident Evil games. The Haunted behave dynamically - they react differently depending on where you shoot them, have ragdoll properties but also have a large set of pre-determined death animations. Some variants of The Haunted will even play dead, waiting until Sebastian walks over them before attacking. Mikami has stated that while a headshot seems like the most appropriate way to take them down, it's not always the best way to approach things, as his aim with the combat was to provide a degree of unpredictability. While The Haunted wield a variety of melee weapons, some of them will wield guns, but these are in the very small minority. Some enemy placements will vary from one run to another - you may find three enemies in a room only to find one or even none in the same room on another run. Others are scripted and will be encountered regularly throughout your runs.

Other enemies in the game may appear invisible but will still be audible to the player. Some can't be defeated using conventional weaponry, so Sebastian must use traps and other contraptions to bring them down. Others can't be defeated at all, and are akin to stalker type enemies found in games like Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Clock Tower or Demento/Haunting Ground.

Mikami does not want bulky weapons to appear in The Evil Within, so many of them will be smaller, barring unlockable weapons. Currently, pre-release footage confirms that Sebastian will be able to wield a revolver, shotgun, double barrel shotgun, sniper rifle, crossbow, stick grenades, axes and knives. Recovery items will be in the form of syringes and medical kits. Achievements reveal that an unlockable will be in the game.

The Lantern is a key item in the game that Sebastian will be with throughout most of his journey. It has a dedicated hotswap button on the directional pad and allows Sebastian to light up torches, light objects on fire as well as illuminate areas. A flashlight will be available though it's benefits will be limited when compared to the lantern.



There will be a select few traps in the game that players can set, though this feature has since been scaled back in favour of the Agony Crossbow. The only confirmed trap thus far is the nail bomb. Traps are important in The Evil Within - Sebastian can set them himself or use the enemy's own set traps against them. Some traps can be activated by shooting at them, others by merely stepping onto or through them. Traps can be planted on the ground, on walls or even on the backs of unsuspecting enemies if you are stealthy enough. The game can be beaten without relying on or even using traps, and Sebastian can dismantle traps to gain components and materials for the game's crafting system.

The crafting system allows Sebastian to collect materials and create items such as the aforementioned nail bombs or even bolts for the Agony Crossbow. The Agony Crossbow will be a major trap setting weapon in the game, and features roughly seven different kinds of bolts, each with their own unique effects. Some will be more powerful than others while some will be more appropriate in certain situations. Some of the types are
The Evil Within is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and has a third person, over-the-shoulder view similar to games like Resident Evil, Gears of War and Dead Space. There is a noticeable grain filter over the game similar to games like Mass Effect 1 and Silent Hill - but this can be turned off or even reduced by a percentage amount to the player's preference. While this is the primary camera system, the developers have hinted that there will be times when the camera system may be changed slightly to add tension to certain scenes. Bethesda Softworks claims that the major visual difference between the seventh generation and eight generation console versions will be the amount of shadows and their quality, as lighting and shadows are a major priority for the development and art teams.

The user interface is simplistic, with only health and ammo counters appearing on-screen at any given time. Whenever the player approaches an item, an on-screen prompt will appear to let them know the item can be picked up. There is an option to turn off all these elements to provide an experience with no HUD. There are no quick time events (QTEs) in The Evil Within - although during some moments players will be required to use natural controls to dodge attacks (think the moments when you're hanging upside down, or grabbed by a tentacle in Dead Space and must aim manually to free yourself). The user interface will be different for PC, and will be better adapted to a keyboard and mouse input.



If enemies are around, Sebastian will behave differently than if nobody was around, bringing life to the character. As with games like Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space, there will be a large variety of gruesome death animations for Sebastian throughout the game. Sebastian can be decapitated, bisected, eviscerated and fully dismembered. When shooting or damaging enemies, blood can stain surrounding furniture and the environment or even Sebastian himself.

The game will employ a mix of narrow and claustrophobic environments but also wider, more open ones. The aim of the developers is to use these two kinds of areas to build up tension and then provide a brief moment of reprieve for players from tension before subjecting them to it all, all over again.​

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INTERVIEWS

PLAYTHROUGHS / WALKTHROUGHS

BEHIND THE SCENES

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Will be updated as they begin to roll in​